Latissimus Dorsi Breast Reconstruction
Comments
-
AbbyM - Let's hope you are able to not only enjoy the long weekend coming up but that your body will just absorb the excess fluid.
0 -
DL66, Thank you for giving your history. It's encouraging to know it is possible to finish this process. I get my drain out today, and I will ask the new PS about an allograft someone else posted about and moving the flap muscle. I'm in it to win it! How long did you wait between the attempts to have a good result? Thanks!
0 -
jlmg - Congrats on getting your drain out today. You are going to feel sooooo much better.
0 -
jlmg, I had the silicone implant removed on 12/2 & had the adjustable saline put in on 2/14, so just over 2 months. That seems to have been long enough to give everything time to heal inside & out.
0 -
Abbey... we are in the same boat. Unfortuantely, I am now noticing a swelling on my back below the incision line, so looks like my body is not absorbing the fluid. Darn it. And we are supposed to leave town later this afternoon for six days. I sent an email to my PS who is in surgery all day, but he is very good about answering emails when he gets a break in the action. His nurse just called and said to email a photo. Sooooo.... will see what happens, but maybe our departure will be delays.
0 -
I have a question for those of you that have had the lat flap procedure for awhile now. It has been years for me . I feel the muscle under my arm on the lat flag side. It feels like a small pillow under there and it is uncomfortable. It is not painful, just uncomforatable. It looks like it is swollen under the arm but it is not, it is obviously the muscle or tissue under the skin. Has anyone else experienced this?
0 -
And soooo.... I ended up having to make a quick trip to my PS to get drained yesterday before we left on our road trip. He pulled out 100 cc's and put a very wide Ace wrap around me. I am still seeing some fluid build up this morning but he said it would be no emergency and I have to go back to see him next week. Sure hope this fluid slows down as we are going to be in the middle "nowhere" for the next 5 days. PS says "not to worry", so I will do my best.
Moneeme... As you can tell, I am a newbie to all this but hopefully someone more experienced will come along soon. Does it feel like the lat muscle just slipped out of place? Wouldn't your breast be somewhat smaller if that happened?
Hope everyone else has a "worry free" holiday weekend.0 -
Actually the breast is wider. The implants are the same size so the breast itself is ok it just sticks out more under the arm.
0 -
moneeme, do you wear a bra?
The reason I ask is that I have noticed a very pronounced improvement in the appearance of the lat muscle under the arms since I started wearing a tight underwire 24/7. I had a definite fold in the muscle on my rads side & it is very flat now.
0 -
joan888 - Bummer you had to do that. Hope you don't have any difficulties while you are gone.
0 -
moneeme - I am a year and a half out from lat flap surgery. A pillow under the armpit is a perfect description. Definitely very uncomfortable. My reconstructed breast is squashed looking, and it spasms all of the time right up to my armpit. Does yours spasm? I'm hearing that my PS needs to cut the Thorodossical (sp?) nerve in the lat to stop the spasms. (I hear some doctors do that routinely in the lat flap surgery. I guess mine didn't!) I assume the bulge under the armpit is where the lat is still attached, and where they gave it the "twist". My doctor said that muscle would eventually atrophy and go down. I've seen no signs of that. The only thing that seems to have atrophied is my nipple!
0 -
lalove55 - I am 5 1/2 weeks out from my surgery and most of the bulge under the armpit is gone. My PS did cut the nerve to the muscle and that is also what helps the muscle to atrophy. Why some cut the nerve and others don't is beyond me. I still have a little buldging and hope it goes down more in time. From the research I have done, typically it takes up to 90 days for the muscle to atrophy and go down.
0 -
Wow Jo - less than 6 weeks out and most of your "pillow" is almost gone! I'm gonna give my doc some words about not cutting the nerve! I think that may be one of the main sources of my misery. I think that is what has given me all sorts of shoulder issues too.
0 -
I think it's strange that it feels like there is a pillow or swelling but when I touch it there really isn't. I think for me it might be just that weird numbness.
Glad to see those with recent surgeries are finally over the drain hump and back to feeling much better.
I had my Onc appt today. It always puts me in a weird mood. I mean I got BC, had surgery to remove it and now I take Tamoxifen. It's like a blur and then I get back to normal. Then I have my dr appts for follow ups and all those earlier worries come back. My appt went ok. Sorry, I know this has nothing to do with surgery.
I did schedule my nipple construction and another revision/fat graft session on the lat side. It will be August 7. yippy
0 -
jwilco - I was always under the impression that any and all thoughts/feelings could be said on any of the threads. So don't feel like you have to apologize. I know I always have those worries when I go for my followups. I think this is just part of our new normal. So glad to hear the appt went well. Now you can go about your business and not think about it until next time. (((HUGS)))
0 -
Jwilco.... I had a follow-up with my ONC last week also. I always get anxious about that appt and too many chemo memories come back when I start walking the hallway to his office. My ONC believes in doing tumor marker tests on each visit too. Fortunately, my readings all came back well within normal so have that anxiety over with for another 4 months.
I had actually delayed this last ONC appt because of this lat surgery, etc. My only abnormal blood test was my hemoglobin being on the low end, but he chalked that up to my recent lat surgery and drains. Anybody else have this happen after lat surgery?0 -
joan - My hemoglobin levels feel dramatically right after my surgery. I was still in the hospital. Had surgery on Wed, levels dropped that day and went back to surgery on Thurs. Had one of those nasty hematomas. Now everything is back to normal.
0 -
Thanks ladies. :-) I guess I should consider myself lucky that the appt is uneventful. I will try to see the glass have full next time around.
Will work on enjoying the long weekend. Dispite the weather being crappy. What happened to sunny CA weather?
I hope you all enjoy your weekend as well.
0 -
jwilco - I don't know where in CA you are but I am originally from Riverside and I do remember the days of crappy weather. Also remember the wild fires. Hope your weather improves soon.
0 -
Thanks Jo. I'm in the SF Bay area. It was cloudy, windy and blech today. Maybe tomorrow will be better.
0 -
Many years ago, my family lived in Novato. I went to high school there (freshman year). There was an Air Force base there at the time. I remember going to Sausalito on the bus for $1.00. Can't imagine how much it would cost now. On weekends, we would go into the city and play tourist. I even got to ride on the trolley cars - that was always fun.
0 -
Actually I don't wear a bra. Maybe that will help. And I have spasams all the time. Not so much that lat as the sholder blade and neck on the lat side. I can't do any raking or other upper body repeative movements as this makes it worse.
0 -
Made it through the week with no noticeable fluid build up - Joan, hope yor time away went ok once the fluid was removed.
0 -
I will be 6 weeks post op tomorrow and all is well. No fluid build up. Incisions are healing well. Swelling is going down and I am finally able to wear a bra without feeling like I am busting out of it on the left side. I have about 98% range of motion back. Have not tried to play golf yet. Maybe that will happen this weekend. I go back to my PS on Monday for a little touch up work. In spite of having to do a second surgery for a hematoma and the stupid drains, I am loving the result and would do it all over again. At the end of the day, I am so glad I decided to have recon surgery.
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend.
0 -
My statge 2 surgery is June 13. Due to shifting and settling, my breasts are just a bit uneven so the PS will insert a small implant to even me up! And revise the lat scar too as there is a dog-ear at the end that is rather puffy.
0 -
fitzdc - I also have a dog ear at the end of my lat scar that is rather puffy too. Makes it a bit uncomfortable to wear a bra at times. How is your PS going to fix that? I would be interesting in hearing that.
0 -
Congratulations to all making progress and prayers for those enduring the process. I may have to switch threads. The TE with the flap was removed, and now I'll wait until October to try to reconstruct for the fourth time. I feel like a total failure. I'm still on IV antibiotics and it feels like that movie, Groiundhog Day. I hope to get back to work and see my seniors graduate.
0 -
We made it back home from our holiday road trip with just some minor fluid build up so I am relieved. I will see my PS on Thursday. I suppose if that fluid is still there, he will drain it again or perhaps my body will take are of on it's own by then. Not sure what my next step will be with this lat process, but I expect there will become fat grafting which I have had before. I too have that little puff above my back scar so I will ask about fixing that. However I have my back surgery rescheduled for July 13th and that is really my next priority so any further stuff to finish this off will have to wait.
I have not been able to keep a bra on for more than a few hours. Drives me crazy and seems to worsen my LE. I see my LE PT next week as this lat surgery has definitely worsened my LE. My PS still thinks that it will eventually help it. I am beginning to doubt it.0 -
jlmg - So sorry, however, don't feel like a failure. YOU are not a failure at all. JO - as for the dog ear - my scar is from mid back to my side (about 3 inches below my bra strap) and all had healed nicely - no bumps, no lumps - just a slight redness. At the end of the scar is that puffy little dog ear. The PS plans to remove the extra skin by just cutting it off so it is even with the rest of the surronding skin. Sounds easy, right? When we spoke today she said this was routine.0
-
fitzdc - My back scar is from mid back to just under my arm. That little end under the arm is what is puffy and when I wear a bra, it seems to irritate it to no end. Will ask about this on Monday.
joan - Glad your road trip was uneventful. Hopefully your body will absorb any extra fluid and you won't need to have it aspirated.
0
